Merrillville is located in the state of Indiana in the USA. The city covers approximately 31 square miles of what was once dense forest. Originally it was the home of the Potawatomi Indians who were hunters and fishermen. Today Merrillville is home to 35,000 residents and has a number of business districts. During the week its population expands to over 100,000 due to the shoppers and workers who come to the city.
For the visitor Merrillville has a wide range of attractions including fourteen parks, four casinos, a theater, a museum, shopping malls and antique shops in its downtown historic area. The Deep River Waterpark features many water-based attractions such as the Dragon which is a water slide with its entrance high above the park. Swimmers can reach speeds of up to 35mph as they travel down the slide. There are a number of other tubes and slides as well as water-based rides. Other attractions close to Merrillville are the HiddenLakePark, the IndianaDunesNationalLakeshorePark and 30 golf courses including the Turkey Creek Golf Course. The city lies close to the southern tip of Lake Michigan, one of the 5 Great Lakes of North America, and its beautiful shorelines are within driving distance. The Marengo cave, considered to be one of the most beautiful show caves in the USA is also nearby.
Merrillville is just a few hours drive from Forth Wayne, Indianapolis, Detroit and Toledo and 39 miles from Chicago. Merrillville is located in LakeCounty which also encompasses the steel town of Gary. The town was named after Elbert H. Gary who was a prominent figure in the area’s steel industry, and has featured in many films including in 2001, Pearl Harbor.
If you want to travel around the area to visit the various attractions you will need to hire a car. There are a number of car rental firms in Merrillville, including Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz and Priceless. You can also use websites to rent a car, such as priceline.com. These websites partner with the top car rental companies such as Hertz Car Rental, Budget Car Rental, National Car Rental and Avis Car Rental. The Priceline site allows customers to choose from a variety of cars including economy cars such as the Chevrolet Metro, compact cars such as the Ford Focus, premium cars such as the Buick Le Sabre and luxury cars such as the Lincoln Town Car. You can compare the rates for each car rental company or you can choose to name your own price. With the latter option you should get a response within 60 seconds. Metrotravelguide.com is another website that can be used to search all the top car rental companies to find the vehicle that you want at the best price. Some websites such as destinationcoupons.com also offer customers discounts if they hire from a particular company so it is worth shopping around before you decide on which website or car rental firm to use. It is also worth checking the websites of the car rental companies as sometimes they have deals such as a 50% reduction at the weekend.
If you are under 25 you should check with the car rental company what their policies on age are. Some agencies will require the driver to be 25 whilst others have a surcharge for drivers under that age. If more than one person will be driving you should also check if additional charges will apply. If you are unfamiliar with the area you may want to add a GPS system to your rental. Most of the car rental companies will be able to offer you a GPS system.
